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Memories of Merelbeke - een randgemeente van Gent

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Belgium 1970s

256

MERELBEKE

We lived in Belgium in the 1970s. Dad, Eric Hayles was working for Volvo Europa at Oostakker near Ghent and we moved into a house in the Verlorenbroodstraat in Merelbeke. We hope you enjoy our evocative photos of life in Merelbeke, a suburb of Ghent.

56 files, last one added on Oct 27, 2014
Album viewed 1789 times

GHENT/GENT BELGIUM

We lived near the beautiful city of Ghent (Gent) in Belgium in East Flanders (Oost Vlaanderen) from 1974 till 1978, although dad was there for about another six years after that. We hope you enjoy some of our photo archive from those happy times.

48 files, last one added on Oct 27, 2014
Album viewed 414 times

MERELBEKE FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS

Some of our wonderful neighbours and friends when we lived in Merelbeke. If you know any names that we haven't mentioned, please add them below the photo.

109 files, last one added on Oct 27, 2014
Album viewed 608 times

DANSCLUB TERPSICHORE MERELBEKE

Mum and dad had dancing lessons at the Dansclub Terpsichore in Hundelgemsesteenweg in 1977-78. These are pictures from one of their social functions.

15 files, last one added on Mar 15, 2014
Album viewed 437 times

OUT AND ABOUT IN BELGIUM

13 files, last one added on Mar 23, 2014
Album viewed 358 times

Our Welsh friends, the Davies Family

We attended church at the Evangelisch Centruum, Burgstraat, Gent, where we got to know the wonderful Davies family from Wales (the clue was in the name!) Charles and Betty, Godfrey, Joseph and Noel. There were also two sisters who weren't in Belgium. Charles was an accomplished artists and signwriter. He once had a job painting the Coca Cola logo on lorries, so he must have been very good! He also painted a sign for our neighbours opposite which read "Bobinage van motoren".

11 files, last one added on Apr 26, 2014
Album viewed 334 times

Documentation

Leaflets and other documentation from our time in Belgium

4 files, last one added on Dec 05, 2017
Album viewed 125 times

7 albums on 1 page(s)

Belgium 1990s

VISITS TO MERELBEKE IN 1990s

In the 1990s, along came the internet. Jonathan put "Merelbeke" into a search engine to see what he would see, and stumbled across the website of Sint-Michielsschool. After writing a greeting in the guest book he received a reply from Guy van Heddegem, and a friendship developed which led to Jonathan visiting Merelbeke in 1998 and writing a song which was performed at the school's Eindejaarshow. He visited again the following year. Here are some pictures from those shows.... we hope to bring you some video clips in the future too. Photos mostly by Jonathan Hayles, captions by Guy van Heddegem.

40 files, last one added on Mar 16, 2014
Album viewed 349 times

1 albums on 1 page(s)

296 files in 8 albums and 2 categories with 5 comments viewed 128,269 times

Last additions

GITO Merelbeke flyer van 1975 4/43020 viewsDec 05, 2017

GITO Merelbeke flyer van 1975 3/42943 viewsDec 05, 2017

1/4352 viewsDec 05, 2017

GITO Merelbeke leaflet from 1975 2/4347 viewsGITO Merelbeke flyer van 1975Dec 05, 2017

Cards at Number 31486 viewsOct 27, 2014

Wilfried at his mother's in Moortsele480 viewsOct 27, 2014

Wilfried's mother in Moortsele477 viewsOct 27, 2014

Wilfried and Lydiane at Wilfried's mother's in Moortsele491 viewsOct 27, 2014

Tram near the Gravensteen in Ghent, 1978771 viewsOct 27, 2014

Wilfried adds the finishing touches to his villa475 viewsOct 27, 2014

Lydiane makes sure Wilfried is doing things properly480 viewsOct 27, 2014

Wilfried adds the finishing touches to his villa467 viewsOct 27, 2014

Random files

Our Uncle Fred, a London taxi driver, talking to Marcel Meersschaut324 views

Eating out in Ypres385 viewsMaureen Hayles, Godfrey Davies (just!), Noel Davies, Charles Davies, Ivan Cowan, Josephine Cowan, Betty Davies.

Please watch Godfrey's tribute to his father where towards the end he recalls the occasion in this photograph.

http://www.forevermissed.com/shadowsflee/#gallery%2Fvideos%2F283772

The Davies family had gone to Ypres to have a meal in celebration of Charles and Betty's wedding anniversary.

Quite seperately, Eric and Maureen Hayles had gone to Ypres because Scottish friends from our church in England, Ivan and Josephine Cowan, wanted to visit there.

Ypres is near the French border, nowehere near Ghent, so you can imagine how suprised both parties were to bump in to each other there.

They all had a meal together, and it was a memorable occasion, as Godfrey recounts in his tribute.

The only way to repair a VW... get on your knees and pray!679 viewsDad and Michael repair the heat exchangers already on our new Volkswagen Transporter minibus

Foundations of Velorenbroodstraat 31, 1974707 viewsWilfried De Moor, his brother and nephew working on the foundations of Wilfried's villa.

Visitors to Number 31380 views

Sinterklaas comes to Merelbeke451 views

The Atomium in Brussels in 1975248 views

The Criel family and Wilfried De Moor305 views

Maureen Hayles in Gent in 1974398 views

Jonathan and Stephen274 viewsVerlorenbroodstraat 29 in 1976

Volvo colleagues415 viewsTwo of dad's colleagues from Volvo Europa in Ghent.

Austin 1800 in the drive of our house510 viewsDad's car, built in 1965. He bought it circa 1970.